his anc colleagues were rounded up and jailed. in 1963 during what came to be called the ravonia trial, the government tried and convicted mandela and seven of the top command of the anc on charges of sabotage and fomenting revolution. a capital offense. the eight were sentenced to life in prison. even from his cell on robin island, the alcatraz like island, six miles from cape town, mandela was uncompromising, says helen, a parliament service person. >> mattresses, the fact that thr between, and mostly about the behavior of the war den who has a tattoo on the back of his hands of the swastika. he says this man is very bad, he treats us badly. >> but even then mandela waseve. >> remarkably self confidentman. he was never making outrageous remarks about the government. he was always, what he said was you know, in keeping with someone who wanted peace. >> and he used the captiveaudiee his young followers for future he envisioned, they even called it mandela university. tokio sapelli was one of the students. >> he was teaching spirit